The discontent may go back farther1, but we begin by pointing to an event which occurred on October 18th, 1748, at a table located in a grand building located in Aix-la-Chapelle, France. It was there that the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed. By its signing, England and France were to bring the War of the Austrian Succession to an end. The War of the Austrian Succession was a war which in part was fought in Nova Scotia.2 The principal effect of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was to return things back to the status quo anti. Thus it was, that one of the provisions of this treaty between the parties was the giving back of Louisbourg to the French.

Next we have the example of James Wolfe. This British war hero had a poor opinion of the Americans as soldiers. They were "not good for much." "Yankees ... are better for ranging and scouting than either work or vigilance." Wolfe wrote to his father, an army man:

"The Americans are in general the dirtiest, most contemptible cowardly dogs that you can conceive. There is no depending upon 'em in action. They fall down dead in their own dirt and desert by battalions, officers and all. Such rascals as those are rather an incumbrance than any real strength to an army. ... Too much money and too much rum necessarily affect the discipline of an army."9